Best Gaming Earbuds: 10 Best Earphones For Gaming In 2019

What are the best gaming earbuds for 2019? We’ve gathered our 10 top picks!

In this article, we’re going to help you find the best gaming earbuds for 2019. Let’s face it: not every gamer has the room for a full-blown gaming headset, especially not if they’re using portable devices and are constantly on the go. Fortunately for those users, we’ve gathered a list of our top recommendations for gaming earbuds, and any of these selections should serve you well.

Earbuds/earphones/IEMs have their limitations, of course. We’ll discuss those limitations, as well as need-to-know spec and jargon in our buying guide at the very end of this article. But to answer a common concern as to whether earbuds are good enough for gaming: ask the pros. If they can attend top tournaments and have their only source of in-game audio be their earbuds, they’re probably doing something right.

These are essentially the cheapest pick we’re willing to recommend, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad. Compared to the same cash you’d spend in a brick-and-mortar store, you’re getting a much better experience here. You have full controls, a form factor that helps keep the buds on your ear, and a surprisingly decent overall sound. These are fairly popular budget earbuds on Amazon, and it’s pretty easy to see why.

Reviews across the board are generally fairly positive. Don’t expect an audiophile-tier experience out of these, of course...but if you’re a gamer on a very tight budget, these should be just fine for you.

Another popular budget option on Amazon are the KLIM FUSION Earbuds. For the most part, you’re still getting basic earbuds here, with all of your fundamentals present. This is a better deal than what you’d get in a brick-and-mortar store, the sound quality is surprisingly good for the price, all the basic controls are...

You get the idea. Where the KLIM Fusion earbuds set themselves apart from our #1 pick is their memory foam earbuds, which makes them more comfortable for extended use. Otherwise, you’re unlikely to see any meaningful difference between our #1 and #2 picks.

This is one of our first recommendations that isn’t based purely on it being “good for the price”.

What sets the BENGOO MG-2 Gaming Earbuds apart from the budget products previously listed is its detachable, extended microphone. This marks a major improvement over your typical built-in earbud microphone, especially for the purpose of in-game comms. The mic will always be right by your mouth when it’s plugged in, as it should be, and it provides clearer comms than built-in mics in this price range.

That extra feature is what we like. Otherwise, the same basic things we said about #1 and #2 apply here.

Sidenote: the mic has no noise-cancelling to speak of. We recommend using either push-to-talk or only using these in a quiet environment to compensate for that.

Have a little more cash on hand? It’s time to pay a visit to the turtle beach,

Specifically, it’s time to check out the Turtle Beach Battle Buds. These are essentially a souped-up version of our #3 pick. They offer the same great extended, detachable microphone, which translates to improved in-game communication with your teammates. The Turtle Beaches also come with the added benefits of improved sound and build quality over our #3 pick, which isn’t bad for a meager ~$10 increase in MSRP.

Oh, and there’s a mic mute button now!

Like the #3 pick, though, the mic has no noise-cancelling to speak of. We recommend using push-to-talk or only using these headsets in a quiet environment to make up for that.

The HyperX Cloud Earbuds are our top pick for Switch and mobile gaming. That isn’t just because they’re explicitly built for that purpose, either- these are just genuinely good earbuds for gaming.

First up, let’s talk about the sound. While you still aren’t getting anything audiophile-worthy here, you are getting larger drivers for an improved soundstage and bass response. For gaming, this means it should be much easier for you to locate where in-game sounds are coming from and respond to them accordingly.

The gaming-centric sound quality and the high build quality are the main selling points here. These are what make the HyperX Cloud Earbuds worth buying. Unfortunately, there are some downsides, too...

First up, no dedicated controls! Well, you do have a single button for stopping/starting a track, but that really isn’t much. Fortunately, if you’re using these as intended (with a mobile device) you’ll already have on-hand volume controls to take care of that issue. This still sucks, though.

Secondly, there is no extended mic here. This means you’re more likely to misplace your mic, especially during an extended or on-the-move gaming session. The mic does feature noise-cancellation, though! You’ll just need to make an extra effort to keep it in the right position so your voice doesn’t get completely muffled by your shirt.

These are not explicitly built for gaming, but their booming bass and larger drivers make them a great choice for it. For listening to music- especially fast-paced or high-energy music, where bass is desired- these are also a great pick. We still haven’t reached audiophile tier yet, but these are definitely the best-sounding earbuds that we’ve listed so far.

Unfortunately, the single-button problem from #5 still persists here. That makes these far better for mobile gaming than home gaming, but that still applies to earbuds in general.

While the mic isn’t extended, most users report great performance with it in their applications. Where mic issues do seem to arise is in terms of build quality- it seems that the mic is the most common point of failure for these earbuds, so keep that in mind if you’re a particularly vocal multiplayer gamer.

Otherwise, the sound on offer here makes these a fairly compelling pick.

Leave it to Razer to give us our first “no compromises” option with the Razer Hammerhead Pro v2 earbuds. These have great all-around build quality, the full suite of controls, strong sound quality, and strong mic quality. What else could you ask for out of gaming earbuds?

Well, the lack of an extended mic is a little disappointing here. Fortunately, the general sound and mic quality both seem to be high enough to make up for that downside.

These are essentially just a souped-up ‘gamer’ version of our #6 pick. If you’re willing to pay the extra money, we highly recommend these.

The Logitech Ultimate Ears 600vi Noise-Isolating headset is a great example of this. While these are pricier than a lot of our earlier options, the sound quality is also a lot better than our earlier options. Many consider these to offer the best sound in earbuds under $100, and while we don’t quite agree due to some recent price drops, these are still good contenders.

The mic is also fairly good, offering great noise-cancellation in semi-noisy environments. (ie, TV on in the background, or traffic). Sound-wise, everything you’re looking for is here...so what’s the catch?

For one, these are costlier than our previous options. Good sound costs good money.

But secondly...these are kind of fragile. Even some of the most praising reviews on Amazon indicate that while these sound and feel great, they are not built to last for much longer than a year. You’ll want to be very careful with these if you end up buying them.

The Cooler Master Masterpulse Headset is built for gaming. The sound quality is awesome and the mic is surprisingly clear. For in-game comms and spatial awareness, you have a genuinely great option here. They stand up for music, too, though they’re a bit boomier than you might expect for quieter, more subtle tracks.

Unfortunately, this is where the downsides kick in.

There are literally no controls, so you’ll have to do everything on the device end. This is particularly tedious for console gamers, who don’t have quick-and-easy access to key controls without interrupting the flow of their gameplay.

Also, these are somewhat expensive. Not quite as expensive as our #10 pick, though...

We’ve arrived at the high end. While there are options to spend up to a thousand on a pair of earbuds, this will result in marginal improvements at best. The ~$100 price range is about where meaningful differences stop for the untrained ear, and fortunately we have Sennheiser here to help us.

Sennheiser has tossed in a set of wireless Bluetooth headphones with truly excellent sound quality and a great built-in mic. This is to be expected of them- their brand is tailored exclusively around high-end audio, and they aren’t generally bothered with extra frills when it comes to their products. If you want the best audio in the industry, Sennheiser is easily one of the best picks.

The only real downsides here are the price- these should be right around $100 unless they’re on sale, which can feel like a lot to ask for a pair of earbuds. Additionally, the battery life is also quite low, so expect to charge these frequently.

As long as you can handle those downsides, though...these are the best gaming earbuds.

Buying The Best Gaming Earbuds For You

In this section, we’re going to help you understand all you need to know to make an informed buying decision. In addition to discussing basic earbud specs, we’ll also help you make the choice between over/on-ear headphones and earbuds, in case you’re on the fence for some reason. (Or earbuds aren’t actually the right choice for your particular gaming style- don’t worry, we serve all types here at Headphones Lab!)

Let’s get into it.

Driver Size

Here’s an interesting spec: driver size. An earbud’s “drivers” refer what are effectively mini-speaker units inside of each earbud. This applies to headphones, too, and what do you know: traditional headphones tend to have FAR larger drivers than any set of earbuds. That’s the advantage of their form factor.

When it comes to driver size, the general rule of “larger = better” still applies here, with a few exceptions on the high-end. However, just because the 10 mm drivers on earbuds are so much smaller than the ones on headphones, which can be multiple times larger…doesn’t mean that earbuds are doomed to poor sound quality.

A big advantage of the in-ear form factor means that earbuds don’t actually have to generate nearly as much noise in order to produce loud and clear sound to your ears. You’re effectively plugging the sound right into your skull, so massive drivers aren’t really a necessity here. What matters more is how well these drivers are built, and how they end up actually performing when you’re using them.

We’re confident that any of the earbuds on this list will provide solid sound for gaming, especially with the volume up. Your basic spatial awareness should be more than covered, even with the budget picks.

Built-in Mics

An important part of any gaming headset, earbuds or not, is having a microphone. In today’s climate of online multiplayer games, it’s more important than ever to have a half-decent mic on hand for proper communication with your teammates. Unfortunately, the small form factor aspect of earbuds do come back to bite here: most earbud mics aren’t very good.

A general rule in tech is that making something smaller makes it more expensive. A good microphone being shrunk down to the size where it can fit on a volume controller shorter than your thumb is a very expensive process. High-end earbuds, like our #10 pick, take the pricing issue and just straight-up do it like that anyway.

Other earbuds prefer to offer an extended, detachable boom microphone. This is our preferred solution, since it keeps prices lower, theoretically allows for a mic upgrade in the future, and is just plain better in terms of positioning. You don’t have to worry about the cord getting lost anywhere or your mic rubbing against your shirt- it’ll be right there by your mouth, where it should be.

The Importance of Controls

Now, let’s talk controls. In our opinion, one of the most important things you can have in a pair of earbuds is controls. Being able to adjust the volume, change tracks, or mute your mic on-the-fly are all great features to have, especially if you’re in-game. Having to open a home menu or alt-tab out of your games to do something as basic as adjusting your volume can be a real hassle, especially if you aren’t gaming on a PC.

A few of our selections sacrifice built-in controls and extra features for better sound and mic quality. Where this occurs, we’ll make sure it’s disclosed. Console gamers will be the most impacted by missing controls, but PC gamers with media keys and mobile/Switch gamers with built-in volume controls should be much less affected by this issue.

Headphones or Earbuds?

Last but not least, headphones or earbuds? Should you even bother with earbuds when you could buy a pair of sweet, hefty gaming headphones instead?

Like many things in life and in tech, the answer is a big “it depends’. Mainly, it depends on what you’re playing and where you’re playing it.

If you only ever game at home on a PC or console, then you should probably get a full-fat gaming headset. You’ll get far better noise isolation, sound quality, and mic quality for the same price. You’ll also occasionally get extra features, like RGB and virtual surround sound.

If you’re consistently gaming on the go, with things like laptops, smart devices, or a Nintendo Switch…you should definitely get these gaming earbuds. They will be far more portable and convenient for the devices you’re using, and they should still stand up for gaming use, if nothing else.

As we alluded to earlier by linking to the pro story, earbuds are just fine for gaming. Pros using them proves that, but it’s also worth noting that they’re still using full-sized headsets with earbuds for things like noise-cancelling at noisy LANs and better mics for team communications. Regardless of what you get, there will be a tradeoff.

Christopher Harper is an up-and-coming tech writer with nearly a decade of experience (starting when he was 15!) and a genuine love for PC hardware, as well as tech and gaming at large. When he isn't writing, he works on fiction, YouTube videos, and competitive gaming.

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HeadphonesLab.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Additionally, HeadphonesLab.com participates in various other affiliate programs, and we sometimes get a commission through purchases made through our links.